


Sweet Surprise

by Canocanopus



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 11:17:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17120357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canocanopus/pseuds/Canocanopus
Summary: Even as a fashion designer, Junhui could never understand why people need so many variety of designs for their winter coats, and in the middle of his frustration, his boss just wonderfully decided he needed more work. He probably would've given up on everything, but encouragement came in the form of hot, sweet cinnamon latte, placed on his desk everyday, with anonymous notes that always brought a smile to his face.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aught](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aught/gifts).



> I suck in making titles for my works hhh  
> I hope you all enjoy this!  
> \- ✫

Slowly, Junhui started to hate this one particular season he used to like.

Here in South Korea, winter is said to be more beautiful, serene, overall a lot more magical than which of his homeland, China. At least that’s what his friend said, but then again she was your typical Korean drama addict, so perhaps her opinion was a bit biased. No matter how her eyes glowed when talking about her dreamy Korean winter, Wen Junhui definitely didn’t see anything too wonderful about it, or maybe he just didn’t have the time to see it.

His first winter in South Korea was spent by working overtime due to year-end’s hectic situation in his workplace. Too many things needed to be reported, too many orders to work on; he even lost count on how many nights he had spent crumpling papers filled with clothes designs that he considered not good enough. Do people really need a lot of different designs for their winter coats? Junhui could wear the same coat for three years, neither caring if it’s already worn out nor if it’s already far left behind the trend.

Not noticing anything, suddenly it’s already at the end of November, and his chaotic work schedule slowly taking its toll to his body. Junhui can no longer sleep before 1 am, and he often woke up late. Like that morning, where his co-workers saw him dashing through the building to the elevator that almost closed its doors. Fortunately, the one person inside still managed to hold the doors for him.

“Did you crash onto four people again on your way here, like yesterday?”

“Luckily no, but I almost got ran over by a school bus,” Junhui weakly said, as he tried to catch his breath. The man beside him was kind enough to press the third floor button first before he did, so Junhui muttered a quick thanks to him. “Imagine if it _did_ ran over me. Those poor kids inside would be pretty traumatized.”

“And I, too, would lost my beloved friend if so. Not a big problem, though. You can be too loud sometimes.”

“If only I’m not too tired you’d also be dead by now, Hong.” Junhui glared at the person besides him, while Joshua only snickered at his threat.

“Oh yeah, the boss wants you to give him the final design for his order yesterday. You better decide on the materials you want for it before lunch today or I can’t find it for you in time,” Joshua told him as the elevator door opened and they stepped out.

“The one I gave him yesterday was good enough already, if only he’s not too damn picky,” Junhui said. “It’s a freaking winter coat. People only wear it for four months a year, why do they give too much attention on the details?”

“Well, if they don’t do so we would be jobless, Wen Junhui.” Joshua laughed bitterly. “I’m a bit annoyed too, honestly, but I remind myself that this work is supposed to be my field of interest. So you better put a bit more interest as well in making more sketches.”

As they reached their working station, Junhui internally cringed at the amount of paper scattered across his desk. God, it looked like the desk of a mad scientist, with all the discarded designs and unfinished sketches. Who knew being a fashion designer would be this frustrating.

Junhui picked up all of the paper and scanned among them to decide which should be kept and be thrown away. Suddenly his eyes catched on an unusual sight above his desk.

A white paper cup. The Chinese man touched the lid, finding that it’s still hot. He lifted the cup and slowly shook the cup on his hand sideways. It felt like it’s still full too. He then saw something scribbled on the cup with black marker. 

_J, cinnamon latte._

“Is this yours, Joshua?” he asked his co-worker, who was already on the corner of the room, scanning through rolls of fabrics.

“Of course not, I just arrived here. You also know I’m trying to consume less caffeine lately, remember?” he said after taking a quick glance on the cup in Junhui’s hand. His answer just confused Junhui even more. His work station is an opened area, anybody could’ve placed their coffee on his desk. None of his co-workers there has an inisial with the letter J besides Joshua, though.

“Well, to you who left this, whoever you are, you clearly know my taste,” he shrugged before sipping it. The warm and sweet goodness immediately lifted up his damaged spirit from the rushed walk towards his work place, and the spicy flavor of the cinnamon definitely did a great job in fixing his awful mood.

He placed the cup back on his desk and went back to his design papers, still a bit unwilling to make more but at least he’s prepared for whatever else is going to come for him today.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, thankfully Junhui was able to come to the office without running like a fugitive on the chase. He had fixed some details from the designs that was rejected by his boss yesterday, and as always he hoped for it to be the last time he had to do revisions.

What he didn’t hope for was the tiny surprise in the form of another paper cup placed on his desk, with the same writing scribbled on the side. ‘J, cinnamon latte’. Junhui found out that it’s also still hot, and full. Who in the world is willing enough to buy him coffee two days in a row? He didn’t remember someone owes him that much.

Then suddenly, he saw something different from yesterday. A sky blue post-it, with a few words written with  dark purple marker.

“‘I hope today is going to be a good one for you!’” Junhui read the writing, unable to contain his desire to grin as wide as possible. He always thought Korea’s workplace environment is about lowkey competing with other workers, like a survival of the fittest. Thinking about that fact, surely small things like those words are enough to create a slight burst of happiness inside of him.

“Jun, the boss asked for your revised designs. Now.”

_Well, thanks a lot for popping the bubbles, Joshua._

“No need to stand up.”

Junhui paused his hand halfway in the air from reaching his sketchbook, quickly turning his head upon hearing the sudden voice. His eyes met with the ones of a young man standing beside his desk. A pair of metalic red headphones hanging around his neck, and even though his heavy eyebags clearly showed how weary that person was, he still managed to flash a smile towards the Chinese.

“What are you doing here, Jihoon?”

The man he called as Jihoon said nothing but to hand him a single piece of paper. It’s still a bit warm, straight from the printing machine. Written with bold letters, on the very top of the paper is the name of the upcoming fashion show Junhui had to create the new designs for. Scrolling down the paper, he noticed that it’s filled with details of the show. Themes, rundown schedules, names of models, such kind of things. At the end of the paper, a few more names were written; his was one of those.

“This is just details of the year end show in Gangnam. Doesn’t really explain why you’re here in the design station and not in your studio downstairs,” Junhui said with a demanding voice.

“See those names at the bottom? They now are ordered to work in a team, exclusively arranged by the chief, in order to speed up the progress of the preparation for the show. You, especially, were ordered to work with _me_. Since you were the head designer, you had to discuss about the music so that it goes well with ‘the aura of the fashion’, or so said the boss.”

Before Junhui could blabber another question out of shock, an arm passed by in front of his face before retracting again with his sketchbook in its grip. It happened in lightning speed, almost startling him until falling out of his chair. He heard Jihoon cackling at his reaction, although later on he patted his shoulder in a calming manner.

“We’re going to start tomorrow, please come to my studio at 9 everyday with your final designs. Oh, and I really don’t like people being late, they reduce my sleeping time and I hate it. So please refrain doing so while you’re working with me.”

“Of course I won’t. Do you really think I always come here late?”

“No, I _know_ you’re almost always late. Just because you’re my friend doesn’t mean I will tolerate that habit of yours,” Jihoon scoffed, before placing another piece of paper on Junhui’s desk.

“Here, I’ve noted down what you should do before coming to my studio tomorrow. I will take your designs to the boss, so you can prepare them from now on.” Jihoon then looked behind Junhui’s tall posture, looking slightly concerned as he stared at whatever it is behind Junhui. “Oh, and can you can please help Joshua? He doesn’t really look well there.”

 Junhui was in the middle of reading Jihoon’s handwritten notes when he pointed that out. He felt something’s weird about Jihoon’s notes, but he forgot about what that was as he turned around to find out that Joshua _indeed_ didn’t look well.

He was talking to one of their co-workers, his face was slightly pale with glistening beads of sweats running down from beneath his dark brown hair. The young man looked so freaked out it’s almost like he could pass out anytime soon.

“What’s wrong?” Junhui nervously walked approaching them.

“Please tell me how the hell am I going to make the final product of your clothes’ design if we didn’t even have any of the necessary clothes and fabrics to begin with, not to mention our supplier also ran out of the materials we need?” Joshua let out a short hysteric laugh after finishing his sentences. Junhui could only release a heavy sigh at his panicked demeanor.


	3. Chapter 3

As more days come, Junhui had started to learn about two things.

First, the paper cup would always be there on his desk, always still steaming hot, always had the same writing with sky blue sticky notes placed beside the cup on the surface of his desk. The only differences was that the messages on the sticky notes were never the same. Each day was special, those letters written with dark purple marker always greeted him with encouraging words. After a week, Junhui started to feel bad for the J that always bought the latte for him, but eventhough he wanted to pay the sender back he didn’t even know who that J was.

 The second thing he learned is that Lee Jihoon is a really strict person when it comes to producing his music. Junhui first met Jihoon on the day he started to work in his current workplace, and he always knew Jihoon as a rather warmhearted person despite his cold aura. Now that he had actually worked with that certain friend of his, he wasn’t actually sure whether the man really was as warmhearted as he thought.

“Could you please just tell me how _exactly_ you want the accompanying music for this one to sound like?” Jihoon said one day while impatiently tapping the tip of his finger on the paper with one of Junhui’s design printed on it. It’s been more than a week after they were assigned to work together. The two had been working in Jihoon’s studio everyday, yet they still weren’t able to come up with a decent track for the show.

“I’ve given you samples from songs that I find suitable for the clothes, like you told me to do. Why aren’t you satisfied with it?”

“Yeah, but they’re all in different genres! One was a typical Mandopop, then the next sample was just emotional EDM, and the next one was a weird mix of orchestra and electronica. They’re just confusing, Junhui.”

 “You told me to find samples for all the designs and I did it. They’re not all for just one design!”

“No, I told you to look for samples for _one_ design at a time, and I think I asked you to not look for extremely different genres. Didn’t you look at the notes I gave you?”

“I can’t even tell which song is classified to which genre. Don’t you know that not all people has the same knowledge in music as you, Lee Jihoon?” Junhui replied in defense. Jihoon opened his mouth, wanting to shoot back another sentence and Junhui had prepared himself for that before suddenly Jihoon just slumped himself into his chair.

“The show is at New Year’s Eve and it’s in less than two weeks. We have to finish our job a day before Christmas or else we’re out of here,” Jihoon stated in a low voice. “At this point I’m not even sure if we can make it. I’m stuck.”

He let out a frustrated grunt, his hand decided to reach the mouse and clicked rapidly, closing all windows of the softwares opened in scatters on his large monitor screen until there’s nothing left but blank, pitch black wallpaper, dimly illuminating his weary face. He slammed the mouse down to the surface of his desk before covering his entire face with his palms.

Junhui felt heavily guilty from looking at the pitiful state of despair his friend had fallen into. They’re both anxious and stressed but he knew Jihoon held the bigger part in this production. Which means he must’ve been even more worried about the possibilities of failure ahead of them. Junhui felt sorry for him, while also cursing himself on the inside for not helping enough as a friend.

“It’s still 7 but let’s just end it here for today,” Junhui spoke softly. “You’re getting too tired. Let’s just take a walk somewhere to clear our heads.”

There was silence for a moment after he finished his sentence, he had thought Jihoon was ignoring him before the dark haired man decided to slowly stand up and shut down his computer.

“Honestly, I just want to go home and throw myself into my bed, but yeah, some fresh air would be fine.” He shrugged.

* * *

The air was freezing cold outside, streets were wet from the snow that had melted and trees were covered with beautiful Christmas lamps shining bright like the stars. People coming home from their office, couples linking their arms together, a small family with two children walking with laughter filling the air between them. Whatever things Junhui looked at when he’s walking outside in winter, it always feels special whenever Christmas is coming up.

That day, however, he couldn’t really feel the festivity like he usually did. His head is filled with the year end show, his current work, and all kinds of things that’s been weighing him down lately. He huffed a heavy sigh, soft white faded smoke puffing out of his mouth while doing so. It used to be a fun thing to do, creating the water vapor in winter. Too bad his mood was just not good enough for him to actually enjoy doing it.

“I’m sorry,” Junhui suddenly spoke out, after walking in silence for too long. “For not helping out too much in the studio. We’re both stressed, yeah, but it was my fault for not paying attention in what you told me to do.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Jihoon said in a low voice. “I’m the one to blame. I kinda expected too much on you, forgetting that you don’t really have the experience in doing things that I’m already good at. I guess I’m just...scared.”

“Of being fired for not being able to do your work? Jihoon, we can pull this off. We just need a break. Trust me, I won’t let you down again after this.”

“It’s not exactly because of that, Jun.” Jihoon shook his head. His expression changed, like he’s in a deep thought. His brows are furrowed, and he started biting his lips nervously.

“It’s hard to find a job these days, especially here in Korea, but if I lose the one I have right now I will probably never find another one that is similar to my current field of work.” He paused for a while, as if considering whether he should continue or not.

“Writing my own music had always been what I wanted to do for a living. That’s why I was surprised when a fashion company decided to hire me because of my music skills, even though I originally applied for another position at our workplace. I’m glad, of course, but if I fail to continue I’m scared of what my family would say. They’ve always been against the idea of me working as a musician, since the very first time I said it.”

No need to be mentioned, Junhui could directly guess what would happen. Jihoon must’ve had a straight family, one that considers the level of success is based on what kind of job someone has. They must’ve considered Jihoon’s dream to work in the music field as a disappointing decision. Most parents would think the same; having a job as an artist is not a reassuring choice to support your own life. Junhui knew that. He himself, working as a fashion designer, had also been faced with such situation from his own parents a few times.

“You won’t hear what they’re going to say,” Junhui said all of a sudden, “because we will make this thing work, together. I will let you create the tracks based on how _you_ want it for the designs. You’ve been in the company for longer time than me, I’m sure you’re good enough to decide what kind of music suits which design.”

“Chief wants us to work together, remember?”

“I will be there, of course, in case you need any help while you work. I’m basically useless in this kind of work, but I know when a music sounds good or not.” Junhui smiled reassuringly, patting his friend’s shoulder as an attempt to calm him down. “We will finish it, and then we’ll have a peaceful holiday afterwards.”

Jihoon stayed silent as his expression seemed to grow even more nervous than before. Junhui felt a little defeated upon seeing the reaction he received. His smaller friend is quite a tough one to assure when he’s anxious. Suddenly, he caught an interesting sight on the corner of his eyes. He turned his head and smiled at the object in his view.

“Come on, let’s stop by here.” Without waiting for any answer, Junhui grabbed Jihoon’s arm and lead him to the other side of the street they currently walked on.

There was a rather small food truck, with lights even brighter than the lamps hanging on the trees around the street. As Junhui approached the truck, he could feel the warmth enveloping his blushing face out of cold, giving him a sense of comfort and slight childlike joy. He greeted the old man inside the food truck, who was frying something that smelled so delicious.

“Two of this, please. Thank you,” he said after scanning the menu placed on the service counter, not forgetting to flash a warm smile afterwards. The man quickly put his order in two separate paper wraps, then handing it towards the young Chinese. Junhui gave him the money while saying a quick ‘thank you’.

“What are you buying?” Jihoon asked curiously. Junhui said nothing but to hand him one of the small paper wraps. It felt warm in Jihoon’s bare palms, almost making him sigh happily from the relaxing warmth. He opened the wrap and saw a warm, golden _bungeoppang_ inside.

“We haven’t eaten anything since lunch, and eating hot food in winter always makes me happy,” Junhui said, before taking a bite from his fish-shapped cake, then letting out a delighted hum with a wide smile afterwards. “Works a lot as a mood booster, you know.”

“It works better as a hotpack,” Jihoon randomly said, putting the paper wrap on his cheek with the cake still inside before letting out a happy sigh.

“You look like my baby brother.” Junhui burst out a laughter, raising his hand to playfully pinch Jihoon’s other cheek.

“Seriously, quit it.” Jihoon slapped Junhui’s hand away, although he also laughed along. He ended up putting the wrapper down, then munching on the _bungeoppang_.

“Since we’re back to work tomorrow, how about just have some fun for a while tonight?” Junhui suddenly suggested. He could feel the corners of his lips curving upwards with an equally meaningful smile. “I think I remember seeing other food trucks around here.”


	4. Chapter 4

Two hours of raiding different food stalls created an incredible impact in healing stressed minds. The next day, Junhui walked into his office with lifted spirit and such a bright mood he almost walked while skipping, if only he didn’t remember to maintain a professional attitude.

As always, he went up to his original work section over the design station, checking on his co-workers progress. And, as always, he found a paper cup placed on his desk, just like the days before. Junhui still wanted to treat whoever gave him those cinnamon latte for a lunch, but he still couldn’t find out who did it.

 _‘Christmas is just around the corner! Let’s work our best before holiday starts!’_ said today’s sticky note.

He brought the latte with him to the second floor, where Jihoon’s studio at. He walked inside the studio only to find out that it’s already occupied by that friend of his, knitting his brows as he focused his eyes at the screen of his monitor, listening carefully to the track he had just composed half an hour before Junhui arrived, he later revealed.  

It was, as expected from him, amazing. Junhui couldn’t contain his excitement upon listening to it for the first time. Although different from the type of music he usually listened to, but he could imagine the models wearing the clothes he designed on the runway with Jihoon’s music playing on the background. What’s even better is that their boss also agreed on Junhui’s opinion, and accepted their first track, after rejecting their previous ones a few times. Junhui felt like all the weight on his shoulders had been lifted upon hearing those words, and he could see Jihoon nearly crying out of relief, which he could’ve laughed at before reminding himself that he might get murdered by the music producer afterwards.

* * *

 

“Is this for the closing walk?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Good, because this is the best one so far.”

Jihoon sighed in relief. With this, their work is finally done, just two days before Christmas. The young Chinese beside him stretched his body in his chair, feeling really glad that he no longer had to deal with numerous clothes designs and the complicated interface of Jihoon’s music softwares that he still couldn’t understand even until now.

“Are you going to submit them today?” Junhui asked.

“Of course, the sooner I can finish this thing completely the faster I could go home,” Jihoon groaned. “Oh, yeah. I still need to finish something else here. Urgh.”

“You’re really busy, huh?” Junhui could only shake his head, feeling slight pitiful at his friend for still having to work late, even though the office had gone quiet earlier than usual due to everyone going home early so they can prepare for Christmas.

“I’ll just send the audios via e-mail. You can go home if you want to, Jun.” Jihoon flashed a smile after he finished his sentences. Junhui felt a little unwilling to leave, but his presence there would probably be more of a disturbance rather than support. So he slowly rised from his chair, then grabbing his coat and bag placed on the table besides the studio’s doorway.

“Thank you for all your hardwork, Jihoon,” Junhui said with a soft smile. “Merry Christmas.”


	5. Chapter 5

The small room was filled with no sounds but the ticking of the clock and the clicking sound of the mouse wrapped inside the fingers of the only person occupying that room. The headphones covering his ears let out a muffled sound of music as he focused on the dim light from the screen before him.

This time, Jihoon stayed late so that he could also finish his last work this year. He had accepted a commission to produce the BGM tracks for an indie game company, and he just needed to add a bit tweaks here and there before it’s finally completed. Nevertheless, it still took some time until he could finish it.

He took off his headphones since his ears started to hurt from wearing them too long. As he took a quick break from staring the screen too long, he later noticed just how silent his studio was, without the presence of Junhui who’s apparently a quite talkative person when there’s not too many people around him. Jihoon had known Junhui for quite a while before their work together, but he had never seen that side of his friend’s personality before. It made him happy, though. It felt like they had gotten closer during their times spent together making the tracks for the year-end show.

It’s like what he had always wanted. To get to know Junhui closer. Jihoon had felt that he’s such a kind person since they first met, and he himself get weirded out by the attempts he had done to befriended the Chinese. It’s not like his usual self, yet finally he thought it’s all probably worth it.

“I wonder if he did notice it, though?” Jihoon thought to himself. He released a heavy sigh, before continuing his work.

Time went by quickly, it was almost 10 p.m. when he had finally finished everything. After sending his work to his boss, and the BGM files to the game company, he shut down his computer and laughed in relief. He stood up from his chair and stretched his body, then turning around to collect his things placed on the table behind.

Suddenly, he saw something on the table that stopped him on his track.

A paper cup.

He wondered if it’s Junhui’s, so he lifted the cup to throw it away. He was surprised when he found out it’s still hot and full. Adding to his confusion, the writing on the cup was exactly the same like how he always got it.

_J, cinnamon latte._

He didn’t remember ever buying it for himself, though.

Before the confusion even left, his eyes spotted something else placed beside where the cup had been on the desk. A folded piece of paper. He placed down the cup and grabbed the paper, slowly opening it.

 

_I don’t know what you’re trying to do by buying me drinks anonymously, but you really should’ve just gave them straight to me, Jihoon! I really appreciate them, though. Especially your encouraging words, they really gave me the spirit every time I went to work._

_If you’re free on Christmas Day, let me take you for lunch. It’s on me, I won’t accept you forcing me to make you pay for your food yourself._

_-WJH_

_P.S. If you’re wondering how I found out, it’s from the note you gave me before the day you started. Should’ve done better in hiding your identity._

_Seriously, you’re unexpectedly so cute, Jihoonie~_

 

“Oh, he’s smart,” Jihoon snickered.  He didn’t realize how easy his plan failed, but at least Junhui didn’t seem to have any problem with it.

Maybe he should consider clearing his schedule on Christmas Day.


End file.
